Constellations of geosynchronous satellites may be used to establish communication systems between each other and/or ground terminals, stations or other devices on the Earth. Satellites may be classified according to altitude, orbit and/or other parameters, with some of the more common classifications including: Low Earth orbit (LEO); Medium Earth orbit (MEO); High Earth orbit (HEO); Semi-synchronous orbit (SSO); Geosynchronous orbit (GEO); Geostationary orbit (GSO) and Areostationary orbit (ASO). In addition to spacing required to avoid physical collisions, satellites may require some amount of orbital spacing or angular spacing to avoid interferences resulting from signals overlapping or otherwise colliding with each other. While some signal overlap may be tolerable under some circumstances, interference of the type sufficient to thwart proper operation may occur when an amount of signal overlap becomes intolerable. The amount of signal overlap needed to produce interference, i.e., intolerable conditions or situations thwarting proper operation, may vary depending on frequency, power, modulation, error correction, polarization and/or other signaling characteristics. The amount of signal overlap needed to produce interference may also vary depending on a size of a dish or a parabolic reflector of the ground terminals as large dishes may operate at smaller degrees of angular spacing than smaller dishes requiring comparatively larger degrees of angular spacing.
The signaling characteristics, dish size and/or the satellite type/classification may influence the amount of angular spacing needed to avoid intolerable signal overlap, e.g., some satellite systems may operate sufficiently with 9° of angular separation where is some other satellite systems may operate sufficiently with 2° of angular separation. As more and more satellites are being deployed, the available satellite spacing, particularly at more crowded locations like the equator, may produce situations where satellites may be unable to maintain a sufficient degree of angular separation relative to ground terminal dish size. One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates mitigating satellite interference resulting from the attendant signal overlap, which may be beneficial in minimizing the amount of angular separation needed between satellites and/or minimizing the dish size of ground terminals.